My blog has its very own Facebook page. Yes, my blog uses the same social site as that guy you went to high school with. You know, that guy, the one that believes the government is poisoning us with chemtrails and calls you a ‘sheeple’ when you point out there is absolutely no validity to his claims. Yeah, that guy. My blog breathes the same air as him.
I have a love/hate relationship with my blog’s Facebook page. According to WordPress, Facebook is the number two referrer to my site, following very closely behind the WordPress Reader. Number three varies and is usually miles behind 1 & 2. So, I suppose that’s a good reason to love Facebook. Love might be a bit of a stretch, though.
I hate Facebook because, well let’s be real here, I hate Facebook because it’s Facebook. They should rename the site The-place-you-come-to-get-into-a-political-brawl-with-your-grandma- book. I also hate Facebook because they make it exceptionally hard to get your stuff out there. Even though I have a hundred and some ‘likes’ on the page, about half of my posts will only reach 40 or so people with little to no interaction.
Were I to share that same post on my personal Facebook page I’d likely get much more interaction. Of course, I made the blog’s Facebook page so that I wouldn’t inundate my family and friends with my posts and so that random strangers could read my stuff while I maintain a modicum of privacy. One of you may be a serial killer for all I know. Frankly, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have my suspicions about a few of you.
As you can well imagine, this setup is a bit frustrating for the up and coming bloggers of the world. But Facebook, in its infinite wisdom, has the answers to all my problems! All I have to do is pay them and they’ll make everything A-OK. Isn’t that nice of Facebook? For just a few bucks you could reach so many more people, Facebook always says. C’mon, get in the back of my van and have some candy, little blogger.
I tried it a few times, mixing up certain variables to see if it would get my posts more hits. The gain was negligible. But, like that shitty boyfriend who pledges his undying love to you even though you caught him in bed with your best friend, Facebook still plays it like your relationship is going strong. Boost this post, baby. It’ll work this time. I swear!
Or Facebook gaslights you until you capitulate. Great post, baby! You’re getting lots of hits. This one is performing way better than all the others. You are the best blogger since Jenny Lawson! Oh man, but this one’s not doing so hot, is it? You kinda suck a little bit, but I’ll help you out if you give me a few bucks. Of course, it never works out as well as he said it would and you end up feeling like a sucker. AGAIN.
I’d learned to just ignore Facebook’s incessant begging. Try it, baby. Boost this post. This time it’ll work. It won’t be like the other times. I’d basically given up on trying to grow my blog’s Facebook empire.
But then……
Then…….
Facebook came back with a dozen roses and a box of chocolates and all sorts of promises that THIS TIME, this time would be totally different. This time we can make it work. Instead of paying to spread the word one piddly little blog post at a time we could promote my entire blog. I could ‘stand out’ with a targeted ad! Yeah, girl, let me show ’em how special you are.
Ok, let’s see what this is all about, Facebook. Let’s make a targeted ad. Let’s get more traffic to my blog. Let’s do this!
Ok, baby. Yeah. Let’s do this! You just got to give me a few hundred dollars and we’ll get this done.
A few hundred bucks? What the hell, Facebook?
Lesson learned. A loser boyfriend never changes, eh? But, since I’m a strong independent blogger that don’t need no social media, I decided to take marketing matters into my own hands. According to Facebook, these are some of the ‘simple tips’ one needs to create an ad that will make my blog stand out and attract readers:
- Drive urgency with words like today and now.
- Make it easy for people to understand exactly what you offer.
- Show how people benefit from reading your blog.
So, I made an ad, all on my own, with my bare blogger hands, that I think does all those things for the low, low price of $0.00. Not to toot my own horn here, but I’d say I did a pretty damn spectacular job. Who needs Facebook? Certainly not me.
Have you tried Tumblr? I find I use it more as I weed out the rubbish and mainly get the items I am interested in. You do get adverts, of course, but we get them on WordPress reader anyway. R.
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Don’t need it. My superior marketing skills, as shown here, are going to rocket me to super blog stardom.
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I just started messing with setting up a Facebook “fan page” for my blog last night. I haven’t even made it public yet and it’s already pissing me off. Honestly, I wouldn’t have done it all except that I’m sure I’m losing out on traffic from the blogging groups I’m part of because my FB profile isn’t public and there’s no link to my blog. If you figure out a better way to do this shit, I’d absolutely appreciate the info.
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Well, I think my spectacular ad here has shown you there is a better way. We don’t need no stinkin’ facebook. I’ll have Bloggess worthy stats by sundown, I assure you.
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That’s what I like about you. You always have such realistic expectations. 😂
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Completely grounded in reality, that’s me! LOL!
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If that advert does not boost you into even more of a super star blogger, then nothing will Christine.
I mean, it has the word NOW, and a photo of Jojo! How could this possibly not work!?
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Exactly! It’s sheer genius. I don’t know how I wasn’t famous five minutes after this went live. I’m baffled.
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You probably are actually going viral. It’s just so fast that it is hard to notice it when we’re living at the speed of mere mortals. I have a feeling we’ll all see the new change in about an hour and a half.
JoJo probably noticed the change already. She has her paw on the world’s pulse.
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I love the ad! This post really did make me chuckle, Christine! Also – I’ve started following you on Facebook, where my blog has it’s own page (that I refuse to ‘boost’ no matter how much they try to temp me) too!
Caz x
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Welcome aboard! I’m glad to have you. Our FB pages can sit unboosted together.
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JoJo’s eyes are sucking me in……..Must. Read. Christine’s. Blog. Arghhhhhhhhhh!
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You can’t resist Jojo.
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That is an awesome ad, particularly the testimonial. I wonder how difficult it was for you to secure such a gem. Hmm, I realize that my sarcasm might not be coming through and that this comment could possibly be flagged as potential spam based on what I regularly see in my canned meat folder. For that I am sorry.
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Sarcasm always gets through here.
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Hahaha. I love this ad. To be honest it’s your cat that’s winning me over the most.
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If you’d ask her she’d tell you she really is the only good part of this whole gig, so that makes sense.
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Haha. That sounds about right (not that I’d agree with her of course!).
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Oooh, you’re really serious about floggin’ your bloggin’! Me, all I do is ‘share’ via WordPress’s own sharing thingy (plug-in? widget? whatever) so that a ‘teaser’ plops on FB, Twitter, and LinkedIn as soon as I press “Publish” after every post. Ya know? Do you do that as well?
Your ‘ad’ is perfect, I love it!! Good luck!!!
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Thank you!
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That ad is amazing. 13/10 would follow immediately.
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H*ckin’ awesome!
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Your ad rocks!
I’ve tried sponsored posts a few times. “You could get up to 4,000 impressions for $5.” *Up to.* I got 400. Boo, FB.
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That has been my experience. If Facebook were a man he’d exaggerate about the size of other things as well.
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